Bleach: Evolution
by JakCooperThePlumber
Summary: 2,000 years ago, the Soul Society was in the midst of a terrible war which seemed to rage on and on. The Warring Souls period, it was called. With so much bloodshed and violence, the Shinigami Order were the only ones to stand up to the Hollows that invaded from Soul Society, lead by the 15 most powerful Souls who ever lived.
1. Chapter 1

_**Bleach: Evolution**_  
 _ **Act 1-The Shinigami-Hollow War Act**_  
 _ **Saga 1-The Shinigami-Hollow War Saga**_  
 _ **Arc 1-The Shinigami-Hollow War Arc**_  
 _ **Chapter 0-Prologue**_

The sky was dark and foreboding. The moon was hovering in the sky, but was entirely eclipsed smoke that kept rising higher and higher. On the ground were fires spreading at rapid speeds, and charging through them warriors, more specifically Shinigami and Hollow, doing battle with enormous fury. The ground was soaked crimson with the blood of the combatants. Armies of bodies charged forward with the intent to kill, hollering war cries which were so abundant that none of them could be made out clearly. Swords clashed, fists flew, and magic spells soared through the air. The moment a fighter on either side was taken out, another would take its place. It's like their forces were never ending, like they were able to keep manufacturing soldiers to continuously do battle. While most of the soldiers were clearly fodder, one stood out from the crowd. A tall, shirtless man with as sick pack abs, long, brown, unkempt hair, and a sword in each hand. He plowed his way through every enemy that confronted him. It didn't matter if they were Hollow or normal Hollow, they stood no chance. And if any of his allies got in his way, then they met a similar fate. His sword slashes were faster than the naked eye could perceive. He sliced right through the hierro of the Hollow like butter. His footwork was skillful also, no matter how much speed he picked up, or how many enemies ran into him, he would never loose balance.

He jumped, slid, spun around, flipped, and cleaved his way to victory. Even when he turned his back, which is usually a sure sign of death, they were unable to touch him, probably due to his exceptional senses. Even on the rare occasion that a Hollow was able to find his blind spot, he would quickly notice it and use a punch or a kick to knock it away long and far enough to strike it with one of his swords. One Hollow that stood several stories high charged up and fired a red blast of energy at him, but he effortlessly blocked it with both of his blades at once. Before long most of the enemies in this area were taken care of. The few that weren't were easily dispatched by the overwhelming Shinigami forces. With the battle won the Shinigami forces split into groups and began putting out the massive fire and rescuing all of the citizens that were caught up in the attack. Without wasting any time, the shirtless Shinigami that came to their rescue used Shunpo disappeared, moving at rapid speed across the battlefield, confident that his comrades could handle the post-battle clean up. Two of his comrades, both draped in black cloaks and their swords sheathed, came up behind him, running side by side with him, one on the right of him and the other on the left of him. As they traveled through Soul Society they eventually left the area of the fire, entered a forest with trees so tall that the tops of them couldn't be seen, and then arrived at a small village with broken down houses and a bunch of people trembling in fear. The one on the right of him, who had brown hair, then began talking.

"Captain Burikka." His voice was low and thoughtful. "What's the status on the east side battalion?"

"Everything's secure." Burikka responded, giving off a confident demeanour. "I'm meeting with the rest of the Captains tonight to discuss future battle plans. With any luck we'll be able to invade Hueco Mundo within the coming weeks and seal it off so the Hollows can never again enter Soul Society."

"What about the leader?" The same guy replied. "Any clue on his identity?"

"Sadly no." Burikka lamented. No longer feeling threatened, he finally sheathed both of his swords. "He's a crafty bastard. All we know for sure is that he has to be a Vasto-Lorde. That wold be the only person with the intelligence to carry out a raid on Soul Society or the power to control this many Hollows."

The other comrade, the one with blue hair, cut in. "The frightening part is that there's probably multiple other Vasto-Lorde at his command. I really don't want to fight one of them."

"Good, don't, Lieutenant." Burikka demanded. "If you encounter a Vasto-Lorde, you run. That's all there is to it."

"You don't have to tell me twice." The guy agreed.

All three of them observed the wreckage with their eyes, scanning back and fourth. The village stretched as far as the eye could see. It was the worst possible sight they could imagine. West Rukongai District 80. Not only is it the crappiest district in West Rukongai, but it's the crappiest of all the district 80's. Burikka wasn't that surprised because he has to make routine inspections through here being a Captain and all, but as for his two Lieutenants, they'd never been this deep into Rukongai. It looked like the devil himself rampaged through here. There was hardly a person in sight, and the few that came into view were either bickering, fighting, or running around aimlessly. They also wore very little clothing. Nothing on their feet, some of them were missing hair, and their clothes were ripped up. Hell, some of them were even completely naked, and the ominous part is that they didn't seem to view that as strange or uncomfortable, even when three strangers began walking by. Peering inside the broken down houses they could see people starving or dead. Souls would fight over the tiniest morsel of food, and those encounters could get immensely violent. Burikka confidently did his part to break up fights and any kind of quarrel that he saw, weather it be over food, a lover's quarrel, whatever. If he say a group struggling to eat the meager amount of food that they had, he would teach them how to split it as evenly and fairly as possible. And most of the citizens, despite their hard times, accepted his aid, albeit some begrudgingly. As for the ones who didn't, one single stare from his intimidating glare got them to cooperate. His Lieutenants, also sympathetic to these people's plight, copied their Captain, although they were more nervous than him. They spent an hour helping this small village. The Lieutenants didn't know what to feel. They were happy that they prevented the Hollows from reaching this mostly peaceful place, but sad that these people had to live like this.

It was all frustrating, but through the entire thing they had to keep smiling, never once showing signs of their trauma, so as to hopefully inspire hope in them, although they were unsure if it would even work. When they were done they looked over to Burikka, amazed by his tenacity and willpower. They supposed that's one of the things that makes him worthy to be a Captain in the Shinigami Order, behind his combat power and skill of course. Before too long they left the village. The two Lieutenants were disgusted by the harsh lives some people have to live, but were satisfied that they were so kind despite that and accepted the help. The three used Shunpo to exit the village as quickly as possible and make their way through the districts. As they did, the appearances of them got better and better, from the structure and stability of the housing, to the design and plentifulness of people's clothing, to the people's overall spirit and morale. There were also different kinds of villages that existed. There was a huge forest, trees taller than the eye could see, with people's houses build inside of the trees themselves due to how thick they were. This was where the fire previously broke out, and lots of damage was visible, but it seemed like it could still be repaired with hard work, which they were happy about. This was District 40. By the time they arrived at District 1 Junrinan they saw larger than average houses, cheerful stores and restaurants, and so much joy that it hurt to look behind them. When they finally exited Rukongai one of the Lieutenants finally couldn't take it anymore.

"Captain." The one with blue hair exclaimed. His voice was calm, but still sounded urgent. "What was that just now?"

"What do you mean, Juddeth?" Burikka inquired, feigning ignorance.

"You know damn well what I mean!" Juddeth responded, a bit irritated. "All of the poverty in the higher districts! How do you justify something like that!?"

"I don't." Burikka replied matter-of-fact. "But I also know that there's nothing we can do about it. All we can do is come by here every once in awhile and attempt to ease their pain. That's our job after all, at least in regards to Rukongai."

"But why is it like that?" The other Lieutenant asked, his voice sympathetic and concerned.

"It has to do with Seireitei." Burikka sighed and explained. "To no fault of our own, the energy from Seireitei, given off by the powerful Shinigami and Kami that reside in it, gives it its prosperity. Naturally that prosperity is also allotted to Rukongai, but the future you get away from Seireitei, the more it lessens. That's why the 80th Districts, all four of them, are in such bad shape. And we can do nothing but accept that cruel reality."

Before he could continue someone appeared behind them. It took awhile for the Lieutenants to catch on, but Burikka noticed right away, turning his head the second before this person appeared. He was a tall man with pale skin, sharp blue eyes, mid length messy black hair with his bangs hanging below his eyes. He has a tall well-built frame. He's adorned in a sleeveless blue overcoat seamed with bluish black hemlines over a royal blue robe with black collar and sash. He ties black ribbons in a crisscross pattern over the lower half of his sleeves. The underneath of his robe can also be partially seen. He wears black pants and a pair of dark brown boots overlaid with more crisscross patterned ribbons. He's carrying a Chinese glaive like weapon called a Hsu Ouandao, its blade currently draped in a white cloth held by a black strap. As he walked the end of his staff also touched the ground in the same pattern as his feet. He had a blank expression on his face as he walked to the side of Burikka, Burikka's Lieutenants falling behind as a sign of respect.

"You're late for the meeting again." The man said. His voice was low and matter-of-fact.

"Sorry 'bout that Joel, I just got finished in West Rukongai." Burikka responded without hesitating.

"Captain Goldsmith." Juddeth cut in. Joel turned to him, but all both the Lieutenants did was bow, they had nothing to say. Joel shook his head, and then returned his attention back to Burikka.

They continued on their way for awhile, using Shunpo to cover ground more quickly. Burikka and Joel, clearly more skilled, were first far ahead of the Lieutenants, and had to slow down so that they could keep up. They eventually arrived in a wide open field; the area they were in before was fairly spacious, but had more trees than here. When they did they entered through some sort of barrier. For both Joel and Burikka it was nothing, but for the Lieutenants they were almost knocked over, and Juddeth commented that he doesn't think he'll ever get used to that. Before they entered the force field they saw nobody else, but afterwards the grassy plane was littered with other Shinigami of both genders and of all ages and sizes. The four of them were greeted by pleased smiles. Out of the crowd of comrades thirteen in particular approached them. Burikka gave a subtle nod to his Lieutenants, and they responded by joining the rest of the crowd, leaving the Captains to themselves. The first to approach them was the tallest of all fifteen, a pale-skinned man with long black hair, black eyes, and a large scar or burn on the left side of his face and neck. He's adorned in a large navy blue cloak with numerous crescent shaped buttons and a black cape, along with a formal black top and trousers complete with a white sash tied around his waist and a white napkin stuffed in his collar, and on his feet he wears black armored boots. The second to approach was a slender woman only a tiny bit shorter than the previous. She has long, blond hair, with some strands dangling along either side of her head and body, and a large ponytail tied behind herself. She wears long, white, baggy pants and a thin, black T-shirt, covered in a long cloak that's white with a few gold trimmings along the edges of it, and long black boots on her feet. Her breasts are relatively large and cleavage can be seen popping out of the top of her shirt.

The next was a tall and very muscular man. He has black hair on the sides of his head and is bald on top. He has a tuft of hair sticking up at the back of his head in a topknot. He has thick black eyebrows and a long, thick black mustache. He has a single large scar on his forehead. He has prominent wrinkles on his forehead and beneath his eyes, and shallow cheeks. He wears the typical black outfit of the Kimono and Hakama of the Shinigami. The next was a woman of average height. She has long, flowing, black hair, pale skin, black eyes, and a white Kimono and Hakama with black trimmings along the edges of it. She holds a black, emotionless expression on her face. The next was a short man, the shortest of all fifteen of them. He is a large and severely overweight individual with a bald head, red eyes, pushy eyebrows, and a long black beard. He wears the standard Shinigami uniform beneath a white, long-sleeved haori. The top of his uniform is open enough to expose his hairy chest. He also wears a set of red prayer beads around his neck and a pair of single-toothed tengu getas. The next one is a man only slightly taller than the previous. He's a dark-skinned man with thick, black hair that is shaven and dyed green on the sides of his head. He wears a variation of the Shinigami Shihakusho, featuring instead a green undergarment and a shortened hakama that exposes his lower legs. Worn over this is a white, sleeveless puffer jacket. His attire is completed by gold-framed sunglasses with blue lenses and a pair of greens lippers that are trimmed and have a shoe-like appearance. The next was a woman who was slender and very youthful with fair skin and long, black hair that is adorned at the back by a large golden ornament in the shape of a crescent moon with numerous small lines radiating outwards. She wears the standard Shinigami uniform beneath a white long-sleeved haori, over which she dons a further white robe fastened at the front near the center of her chest.

She also wears a pair of extremely thick-soled okobo. The next one was a tall man with short, orange hair. Instead of the normal black Shinigami uniform his was purple, and he had a white, flowing cape on his back. After that came a lean-built and very tall man with black hair arranged into an outlandishly large pompadour hairstyle with tapered sideburns. He was chewing on a small stick. Instead of a standard Shinigami uniform, he was adorned ina waist-length white jacket that leaves most of his chest exposed. His chest was hairy, but not as much as the short guy. His attire is completed by a black hakama, a large yellow sash around his waist, and a pair of small brown sandals. After that came a tall man with short, frizzy, black hair, black eyes, and pale skin. He was adorned in the standard Shinigami uniform that looked normal except for red trim across all of the edges, with a white belt strapped around his waist several times over, with a black cape draped across his back. The next one was a man who was short but still taller than the shortest one. He looked rather elderly with wrinkles all over his visible flesh and his head was entirely void of hair and he had dark blue eyes. He had to use a brown wooden cane to walk. He wardrobe mostly looked like the standard Shinigami uniform except it was red with black trim across all of the edges. The next one was a tall man with a tiny black mustache and a tiny black beard, black eyes, and long, black hair with several thin strands dangling on either sides of his head and the rest tied in a thin ponytail behind himself. He wore the standard Shinigami uniform except it was brown. And the last one was a tall man with long, flowing, silver hair, black eyes, and a smile on his face. He was adorned in a gray robe and haori that went all the way down to the ground and covered his feet. His hands were stuffed in the sleeves opposite of it.

Without saying a word all fifteen of them made their way tot he center of the field. All of the other Shinigami that were present moved out of the way, making room for the leaders. They showed numerous signs of respect, from bowing, to saluting, to kneeling, to simply walking away silently. After that they formed a large circle side by side each other. Once they were all in position Joel took four steps forward, stabbed the bottom end of his staff into the ground, which was positioned on his right side, knelt his left knee to the ground, slapped the open palm of his left hand to the ground, and began to murmur and indistinguishable chant. After that, the grass and dirt on the ground disappeared, replaced by a large, circular, shinny, colorful map, made entirely out of reiatsu. Joel took a deep breath when he began using the technique, signifying the releasing of his reiatsu. Afterwards he stood up and stepped back into the circle again, and everyone, including him, bent down onto both knees to observe the map more closely. Joel set his staff behind himself on the ground. The silver haired man was the first to point and speak, his voice calm and soothing yet also stern and commanding.

"It's been awhile that we've all gathered together." He said matter-of-fact. "Now that we have, it's time that we plotted an invasion of Hueco Mundo."

"Have you located any weak points Shoyo?" Joel questioned.

"A few." He replied. "But it will require all of our might to penetrate. Once we're in, we have to locate and destroy their leader."

"Are you sure the rest of the Hollows will surrender?" The bald guy with the long black beard inquired. "There's still a lot about Hollows that we don't know, and we can't underestimate their resolve."

"Perhaps, Ichibei." Shoyo lamented. "But we do know that his existence is providing unbelievable strength to the Hollows, so with him gone we should be able to annihilate the rest of them in Soul Society and seal the path forever."

"What about the rest of the Vasto-Lorde?" The woman with the crescent moon protruding from her back asked. "They're few in number, but each one is stronger than most of us."

"Shutara, we'll just have to deal with that as it comes." Shoyo exclaimed.

Shoyo opened up both his hands wide and placed his ten fingers on the map. When he did, three areas lit up across the map, emitting a bright red glow, everyone focuses their attention on those specific areas.

"I'll be splitting us up into three groups of five." Shoyo explained confidently. He removed his fingers from the map, and the red glows remained. "Group 1 is Shikyo Fushiawase, Higumi Morimoto, Shutara Senjumaru, Ichibei Hyosube, and Roku Kage will open up a portal in Seireitei."

Shikyo Fushiawase, the tallest of them, Higumi Morimoto, the blond haired woman, Roku Kage, the guy wearing a black uniform with red trimmings, Shutara Senjumaru, and Ichibei Hyosube all stood up, moving a little ways away from the circle.

"Group 2 will be Joel Goldsmith, Burikka Hakumei Akegata, Kaibutsu Shihoin, Onoki Higurashi, and Nemaiya Oetsu. You'll open up a portal in the designated area in South Rukongai" Shoyo continued.

Kaibutsu Shihoin, the orange haired man, Onoki Higurashi, the oldest looking one, Nemiaya Oetsu, the one with sunglasses, Joel Goldsmith, and Burikka Hakumei Akegata, all stood up next, moving to another separate location.

"And group 3 will be Tenjiro Kirinji, Shigekuni Genryusai Yamamoto, Yachiru Unohana, Zentaitoshitenkushimi, and myself. We'll open up a portal on the hill where the Sokyoku Blade resides." Shoyo finished.

Tenjiro Kirinji, the guy who was chewing on a small stick, Shigekuni Genryusai Yamamoto, the guy whose mostly bald except for the sides of his head, Yachiru Unohana, the woman with long black hair and an emotionless expression on her face, Zentaitoshitenkushimi, he guy with a long black ponytail, and Shoyo Tabinin rose to their feet last, grouping themselves together as well. Right after that, a woman walked up to Higumai and a guy approached Burikka. The woman looked almost identical to Higumai, wardrobe and all, except she's missing the white cloak that Higumai wears. The guy who approached Burikka had short black hair and light gray eyes. He wore a red karuta sashinuki style cote with red lacquered steel han kote style forearm guards along with red lacquered steel suneate and haidate. Under the armor he wore a black shitagi, yugake, and hakama tied with a white himo where he ties his swords. He also wore a pair of cotten waraji over white tabi. They began talking. Higumai told this other girl, who was her younger sister, Higamoppi Morimoto, that she's in charge of the entire Shinigami Order in their absence; similarly, Burikka told this guy, who was his younger brother, Asahi Hakumei Akegata, that he's second in command. The two obeyed their respective siblings, bowing respectfully, and then walked away, informing the rest of the Shinigami in the area of the current situation. With that, all three groups of five left, using their most skillful Shunpo's to reach their destinations as quickly as possible. Ichibei, Joel, and Shoyo clapped their hands together and began summoning black mana around their hands. Each of them simultaneously gave the following incantation. _The spirit that connects two opposite worlds, those who trespasses and dances with the damned, Bakudo #99: Keikaigi_. After that three Garganta opened up, ripping a hole in space and time.

Before them was a black void of eternal darkness, which seemed to stretch for eternity. The opening looked like a gigantic mouth with its shape. Everyone floated up in the air, entered their respective Gargantas, and they sealed shut behind them. They used their reiatsu to form long white sidewalks that they could run across, after which their feet connected with the sidewalks and then they started bolting across the eternal void of nothingness. Meanwhile in Hueco Mundo, a bunch of hollows were going nuts. They screeched loud and intense enough to cause shock waves through the air and ground, and a few of them even attacked each other for seemingly no discernible reason, while much smaller, much weaker hollows cowered in fear at the immense amount of chaos. This continued for several minutes until they were all halted by a massive amount of spiritual power. It caused large portions of the ground to rise into the air, and every hollow in the vicinity were forced to the ground. Even the strong and uncontrollable ones were consumed with an insurmountable fear. All of them looked in the same direction. In that direction was the source of the spiritual power, a Vasto-Lorde. He had the appearance of a large skeleton completely void of flesh. He wore an elaborate, jet-black academic gown adorned with golden and violet edges. His ribs are completely exposed. He has a dark red orb floating under his ribs that emanate a feeling of dread. He has a tiny dark red glow radiating from inside his empty eye sockets. Additionally, he has two large, long, and wide bones which protrude out of either side of his head. The hollows that were close to him were quickly vaporized by the overwhelming might of his spiritual power. Once he was sure he got their attention he completely dissipated his spiritual power. For a moment after that there was nothing but silence, and then he finally spoke. His voice was loud, booming, and commanded absolute obedience and respect. It was able to strike fear without sounding intentionally angry, and had an ominous presence to it.

"That's enough of this foolishness." The Vasto-Lorde demanded in his gravely tone. "The Shinigami Order is approaching Hueco Mundo. Not only that, but it's all fifteen of the Captains. This is our chance to crush them and eliminate their forces forever!"

"Agreed Honoka." A female voice sounded, using a speed maneuver similar to the Shinigami's Shunpo to appear in front Honoka.

She was a tall, slender, well-endowed woman with blond, messy, unkempt, slightly long hair, and she had hollow bones covering her entire body kind of like a suit of armor. It covered every single inch of her except for her eyes, the top of her head, and her hair. The bones on her right hand form a long and thick cylinder shaped blade when it reaches the end, and on her left hand it forms a gigantic claw. The armor is mostly white, with a few patches of light blue. Out of her back protruded three long, sharp, white spikes. One of them pointed directly up, one pointed to the right, and one pointed to the left. Now the lower level hollow's attention were drawn to both of them.

"Harribel." Honoka exclaimed. "I want you to take an army of Hollow, as many as you think you need, and a couple more Vasto-Lorde, and attack the ones entering through the Seireitei portal. I will be attacking the group that entered through the portal on Sokyoku Blade hill."

"What about the last?" Harribel inquired.

Before he could respond, another Vasto-Lorde arrived. He was rather slim in terms of build. On the top of his head, protruding out of both sides, are a double sided hammer. He has fin like protrusions over his hands and feet. He has a strange slash on his head. He also has gills on his neck, and all of his teeth are contained within one row on his head with a normal mouth void of teeth below them. Almost all of his body is dull purple with a white neck. When he arrived he bent his knee to Honoka respectfully, folding his closed fist and arm over his chest and lowering his head.

"Master, allow me to lead the third group." He requested. His voice was deep and stern, but still gave off the tone of a respectful, loyal minion.

"I was about to. You are my third in command after all, Hammerhead." Honoka confirmed, pointing at the guy with his bony, decrepit finger.

After that, three more Vasto-Lorde arrived. They also bent their knees in respect. One was a woman with long, flowing, red hair and orange eyes. Her hollow bone armor covered all of her body except for her face. Her breasts were rather large, and were quite prominent bulging out from her chest, forcing her bone armor to stretch. Her build was about average, not too fat but not all that slender either. The second was an elderly, overweight man, with a huge white mustache and white unkempt hair on his head. His face is lined by large scars on the left side of his chin and across his right eye. Despite his aged appearance, he is quite stocky and muscular, and when he was standing, before he bent the knee, albeit with the slouch of an elderly person, he is of a fair size. He wears a regal white leather coat with black fur lining, short sleeves, and three black fur stripes running along the bottom. He wears a golden wristband on both wrists and a belt consisting of three thick chains attached to a large metal disk with a sun emblem. He has dark skin and he also has wrinkles all over his body. And the third and final one was the tallest of them all, probably clocking at 8 feet. His hollow bone armor, which is mostly white with a few black patches here and there, cover his entire body. The armor on his face has thousands of tiny teeth which can be seen even when his mouth is closed. He has two long, sharp, curved horns protruding out of either side of his head, the bottom half of a black cloak covering his groin, legs, and feet, and is completely bald on the top of his head. His teeth and mouth are holding a menacing grin, but it's unclear if this is intentional or if it's a permanent fixture.

Honoka flicked his finger upward, and in response all of the Vasto-Lorde who were kneeling down stood up straight. "Angelique you join Harriebl, Baraggan you join Hammerhead, and Alejandro you join me." Honoka exclaimed, in order of their appearance.

Honoka raised his arm and swung it, giving his underlings the signal to make their move. Without question, hesitation, or a single word, they did so. The first to leave were Harribel and Angelique, with a speed technique that caused a small bang to sound, taking legions of hollows with them. The second to leave was Hammerhead and Baraggan, taking their own army of hollows with them. The lower ranked hollows followed pretty far behind the Vasto-Lorde as they weren't nearly as fast, but still seemed to know exactly where they were going. Unlike the previous two groups Alejandro and Honoka simply remained where they were, gathering a group of hollows behind them. A moment later Honoka gazed up into the dark abyss that was the sky of Hueco Mundo and a Garganta opened up, through it flying Shoyo Tabinin, Tenjiri Kirinji, Shigekuni Genryusai Yamamoto, Yachiru Unohana, and Zentaitoshitenkushimi. The Garganta immediately shut behind them, disappearing, and then they bolted for the ground, using Shunpo to land in literally one second. While they were facing away from Honoka and Alejandro when they exited the Garganta, when their feet reached the ground they were automatically facing them. Their legs were bent and they were clutching their Zanpakuto, ready for battle. Honoka merely cockily chuckled and raised his spiritual power tremendously. All of the nearby hollows quivered in fear and Shoyo and his allies, while still being able to stand, were visibly affected by it. They began to sweat, and Shoyo's face began to look worried. The only one who wasn't affected by it at all was Alejandro, who just held a wicked smile on her face.

"That's him." Shoyo stated matter-of-fact.

"How can you be sure?" Zentaitoshitenkushimi questioned.

Before Shoyo could answer, Yamamoto cut in. "Because he's met the great Vasto-Lorde Honoka before. This is my first time, but this presence isn't something that could be released by a just any Vasto-Lorde."

"Indeed." Shoyo said.

Shoyo responded by raising his own spiritual power to match Honoka's, but this act didn't seem to worry Honoka at all. His arrogant grin remained on his face, and even seemed to get a bit wider now. By the command of Alejandro a gigantic swarm of hollows charged straight for the Shinigami Captains. Shoyo stepped forward, drew his Zanpakuto, slashed through the air, and just like that they were all gone. Several dozen of them slain in an instant, their reishi particles spreading all over the world and eventually dissipating. Their last breaths were spent screeching with great fury. Shoyo's Zanpakuto was very unique in appearance. The blade was double the length of a normal Zanpakuto. The hilt guard was diamond shaped, and the hilt itself was stripped silver and gold. It also had a peculiar tiny blade on the end of the handle. Following that Shoyo scrapped his fingernail down the length of his Zanpakuto blade, which caused it to glow a bright light. After that, he did several slashes downward, which caused many blades made out of reishi to leave the sword and head towards Honoka. They were so fast that they caused ripples to appear in the air, and Shoyo's hair blew wildly. Faster than the eye could see Alejandro appeared in front of her master and blocked all of them with swipes from her clawed hands. Without skipping a beat she then appeared behind Shoyo and attempted to punch him in the back of the head. Shoyo was saved however by Yamamoto, who used Shunpo to cut off Alejandro and then drew his Zanpakuto, slashing her down the middle with it. His Zanpakuto took the form of a standard katana, with a dark purple hilt with a few diamonds on each side and a circular hilt guard. Alejandro, taking the brunt of the attack, flew back. She stuck the landing, but she slid on her feet for awhile. She she stopped she was hunched over. However, her wound quickly began to heal.

Smoke radiated off of it, the blood evaporated, and the would closed entirely, without any hint that she was ever attacked whatsoever. Shoyo explained that this was the healing ability possessed by Vasto-Lorde, and also said that the speed technique they keep using is known as Sonido, and that it's faster than a Shinigami's Shunpo as it's able to break the sound barrier. After would had completely closed Alejandro stood up straight. She summoned fourth some reishi from Heuco Mundo's atmosphere, which gathered around her right arm. Within moments her arm transformed from a normal arm and hand to a double edged jagged blade. It wasn't long before her other arm looked the same. She then proceeded to charge forward and clash swords with Yamamoto. Her strength was so great that Yamamoto was pushed way back, far from Shoyo and Honoka and he was powerless to stop it. After awhile she pushed hard, which caused him to leave the ground and go back further. After regaining control of his body he did a backflip, landed on the ground, and charged after Alejandro. The two clashed swords for awhile. Their swords would meet five times and then they would use Shunpo and Sonido respectively to reach a different location. Five strikes, Shunpo and Sonido. This repeated for several minutes. Eventually Alejandro got the upper hand by sliding by sliding to the side of him. Yamamoto isn't able to react quickly enough to prevent her from pointing her left blade arm at his stomach and began building up a mass of scarlet energy.

After thirty seconds she shouted "CERO" and launched it. Her voice sounded sweet and gentle, while also giving off an ominous fear.

Her Cero pierced through his chest sending him flying far back and tumbling down on his back. Gallons of blood flew in every direction, and a hole about the size of a baseball could be seen in his body right below where his heart would be. Without wasting any time Alejandro leaped up in the air and then bolted downwards, attempting to strike him with her blades, her left blade leaned forward towards him. He reacted quick, however, lifting his Zanpakuto up, which he had a tight grip on. The two blades slid across each other and he used the opportunity to throw her to the side. He did a backflip to his feet from a motionless position.

Yamamoto quickly sheathed his Zanpakuto and said "Hitotsume: Nadegiri." After that a bright flash of light occurred, followed by Yamamoto suddenly appearing behind Alejandro. For a moment there was silence, but then Alejandro's left arm fell off, even though Yamamodo's blade was still sheathed, blood spraying everywhere.

Alejandro didn't realize what had happened until five seconds after it had already taken place. She screamed in great agony, but didn't have time to react as Yamamoto spun around and did a swift jab with his sword, stabbing her through the heart. She managed to jump away just as he did, but afterwords she fell down to both knees. Blood was pouring out of both of her wounds, and she even coughed up some blood. After using her forearm to wipe the blood off of her mouth she stood back up. The wound on her chest and heart healed, which didn't surprise Yamamoto considering what he previously saw her do, but then her arm began to regenerate. Yamamoto moved quickly, attempting to attack her again to prevent it, but she managed to fend him off with her other available blade arm until the regeneration was completely finished, all the while being forced to hunch down close to the ground, the fear of her falling over constantly lingering in her mind. Once her arm was finished regenerating, however, he leaped far backward, landing on her feet with ease, sliding for a bit, and then pointed both of her blade hands at Yamamoto and fired two Cero's at the same time. A few seconds after they were launched the Cero's fused together into one, much larger Cero. Yamamoto was able to dodge this one, marveling at the immense amount of destruction that it caused to the ground, creating an overwhelmingly large crater, but Alejandro wasn't done yet. After that she pointed both of her blade arms at him again, and this time fired a Bala. This looked exactly the same as the Cero except it was circular blast of energy which completely left the fire point, whereas one end of the Cero's were still attached to her arms until the attacks were finished. She kept firing the Balas over and over again. They were small enough that she was able to fire many more of them with much less recharge time, but they didn't cause any less destruction.

It was all Yamamoto could to do keep evading her attacks because a Bala was much faster than a Cero. Gazing around himself Yamamoto could see Yachiru Unohana, Tenjiro Kirinji, and Zentaitoshitenkushimi hurriedly fighting off swarms upon swarms of hollows. They were doing well enough to not take any damage themselves, but not well enough to break through the forces and go help Yamamoto himself and Shoyo.

After awhile Yamamoto gritted his teeth and stopped moving entirely. Clutching the hilt of his Zanpakuto with great force he shouted "BURN THE ENTIRE WORLD TO ASHES! RYUJIN JAKKA!"

First his blade coated in flame, and then fire burst out from all around him. The Balas that were aimed for him were consumed by it. The flames rose high into the sky, erasing even the clouds. Yamamoto became almost unnoticeable, blocked by the immense fire which only seemed to grow larger as time continued with no end. The heat emanating was so great that it visible exhausted Alejandro, causing her to drop to one knee again, sweat tripping like mad off of her body. Shoyo and Honoka gazed over ad the blazing sight. They were both sweating as well, but were able to remain on their feet even though they weren't that much further away from it than Alejandro.

"It never ceases to amaze me." Shoyo exclaimed with a cocky grin.

"This must be the power known as 'Zanpakuto' that I have heard about." Honoka responded. "And to think, if us Vasto-Lorde could acquire this power, we would be invisible."

"True enough." Shoyo replied, after which releasing a large sigh. "Too bad that's not possible."

Without responding Honoka pointed his left bony index finger at Shoyo. All of a sudden Shoyo used Shunpo to evade an unseen attack, and moments later a gigantic explosion occurred. It was so massive and destructive that it instantaneously decimated several miles of land. Shoyo looked onward in astonishment, his usual joking expression turning to a serious frown. The discovery that Honoka is able to release overwhelmingly powerful attacks without uttering a word and is even able to make them invisible was more than he bargained for. Shoyo drew his Zanpakuto right away, used Shunpo to appear in front of Honoka, and struck him. The attack hit point blank on his face, but caused no damage. It didn't even force Honoka to budge an inch. Instead Honoka just laughed slightly, grabbed the sword with his left hand, lifted it slowly off of his face, and then clutched his right hand into a fist and punched Shoyo in the stomach. Despite being all bones, the punch was strong enough to send Shoyo flying back. He landed on his feet, but he also coughed up blood.

Without slowing down, he stabbed his Zanpakuto into the ground and said "ITTOU DAICHI!" This caused a bunch of gigantic swords to emerge from the ground at rapid speeds. Each time one emerged, it would be closer to Honoka. Honoka effortlessly sped away from these swords. He would either swerve around them or jump over top of them with ease.

Once they stopped appearing he hopped on top of one and pointed his finger at Shoyo again, preparing to fire another Cero. Before he could, however, Shoyo placed the palm of his hand on the sword that Honoka was standing on and said, "DENKISHIKI SAAJI!" This caused a surge of blue electrical energy to generate from Shoyo's hand and enter the blade, traveling up it with great speed. The force was enough to destroy not only this sword but all of the nearby ones as well. Once the electricity hit Honoka it caused a massive explosion, which Shoyo had to leap backwards away from in order to avoid.

Meanwhile, Shikyo Fushiawase threw a punch at Tier Harribel, which she managed to effortlessly block with her clawed hand. Using Sonido she achieved a great distance away from Shikyo and then pointed her claw at him. Without a word, she fired her own Cero. Her Cero was yellow in color, and it possessed a very wide arc. Shikyo ducked underneath of it, hit the ground with his feet, and immediately propelled himself up towards Harriebel.

Shikyo shouted "IKKOTSU!" after which releasing a punch with his left fist. Before it hit the strike was intense enough to create ripples through the air, and when it hit the strike pulverized a large section of Harribel's hierro. Pieces of her white armor chipped away and fell of of her body, leaving her entire stomach and the bottom of her breasts exposed, and it sent Harribel plummeting down to the ground. Before she hit the ground, however, she regained her composure and used Sonido to get behind Shikyo, after which attempting to pinch him with her claw. Without even looking in her direction he did a backward motion with the same arm that he previously hit her with, striking her with his elbow, and shouting, "SAKAHONE!" His elbow managed to shatter even more of her armor, almost all of it on her arms, hands, legs, and feet. It wasn't as powerful as Ikkotsu, but it was enough to get her off balance long enough to turn around and continue attacking. He began an assault of punches and kicks, but oddly Harribel was able to either block or dodge all of them. Her claw proved to be quite troublesome, as it was so durable that even Shikyo's punches weren't able to damage it, and if he wasn't careful it was really easy to get cut by it. Even the outside edges were sharp. This brawl lasted for several minutes, and neither Harribel nor Shikyo appeared to be getting tired. After awhile Harribel send a kick straight to Shikyo's solar plexus. It was enough to push him far enough away so she could use her claw to fire a barrage of large, circular, yellow Balas. Shikyo attempted to dodge them, but wasn't fast enough. For every group he evaded, another one would hit him point blank, until he was forced to plummet to the ground. This time, unlike Harribel, he actually hit the ground, this thud causing a crater to form where he landed. Meanwhile, Roku Kage and Angelique were going at it. Roku Kage wielded two swords.

Both of them were the length of average sized katanas with light blue and white stripped hilts and square hilt guards. They were both strapped side by side in navy blue sheaths on the left side of his body until he drew them both at once, one in each hand, to do battle. Angelique clapped her hands together and summoned a lot of spiritual power. After a few seconds she summoned four clones of herself. After that each one of them turned their arms into blades, similar to Alejandro, and they began attacking from every direction. Roku Kage was a very skillful swordsman, and quite fast. Using both of his swords he could effortlessly fend them off, constantly spinning around to focus on one of the clones, and then spin around again to focus on another one. Even if he didn't have time to turn around, he would partially turn and fend off two combatants at once, one with each sword. He grazed both of his swords across the blade arms of two of the clones, jumped and backward flipped in the air, and landed on both of their heads, one foot her head. After that he did another backflip and landed on the ground, after which stabbing both of the clones in the back. When they did their cells broke apart and they turned into a white liquid, combining together as the fell into a puddle on the ground. Roku Kage's knees were bent firmly, his left foot extended forward and his right foot extended backward. While he was fighting Angelique, Shutara Senjumaru, Ichibei Hyosube, and Higumo Morimoto were hurriedly combating legions upon legions of hollows, and were so overwhelmed that they weren't able to even attempt to assist Shikyo Fushiawase and Roku Kage. Two more of the clones leaped in the air and tried to slice Roku Kage through his head, but he simply ducked backwards and used his blades to slice them down the middle, once again turning them into white liquids.

The huge puddle of white liquid quickly dissipated after he was done killing the clones, lifting up into the atmosphere and disappearing completely. Roku Kage followed up by turning around, attempting to strike Angelique who was standing right behind him. However, faster than he could perceive she turned her entire body into the same white liquid as before. The liquid fell to the ground in a puddle, the puddle quickly traversing behind him. After that she reformed and used her left blade arm to stab him straight through the back, the blade exiting through his heart. Thinking quick, Roku Kage propelled himself forward, leaping far way from her, but she appeared in front of him and slashed him down the middle from his head to his groin. Drenched in blood, and with a huge gash traveling the length of his body, Roku Kage was sent tumbling to the ground, both of his swords sliding on the ground away from him. He gazed around him and saw that Shikyo Fushiawase, Shutara Senjumaru, Ichibei Hyosube, and Higumo Morimoto were also lying on the ground in utter defeat. Meanwhile, in another location, Burikka Hakumei Akegata was going at it with Baraggasn Lousenbairn. Without lifting his finger, making a single motion, or uttering a single word, Baraggan fired a barrage of bright scarlet Cero's at Burikka. Burikka managed to easily dodge each one of them. The Cero's were incredibly wide and incredibly long. Unlike most Cero's, these ones did actually leave Baraggan entirely, similar to Balas, except it just took a tiny bit more time because they were longer. After Burikka dodged one Cero, he unleashed several slashes with his swords. The slashes created blades out of the air currents that they built up with were sent flying at Baraggan. Instead of evading, all Baraggan did was block them with red Balas, which he cast once again without making a single motion or uttering a single word.

Faster than Baraggan could perceive Burikka appeared on the side of him and aimed one of his swords for Baraggan's head. Baraggan managed to maneuver his head back slightly which caused Burikka's sword to just barely graze Baraggan's forehead, tiny bits of blood dropping on Baraggan's thick white mustache. Burikka continued by delivering a hard kick to Baraggan's abdomen, which sent him flying back several feet, after which assaulting once again with his swords. He managed to lay several successful slashes until Baraggan, without a word, opened a Garganta behind him. He fell inside of the Garganta, and it closed, after which another one opened in a new location, which he jumped out of again, the Garganta closing behind him. Before Burikka could turn around Baraggan used Sonido to appear right next to his side facing his direction, after which touching his shoulder. This caused Burikka to start aging. He began with wrinkles, which appeared all over his body, then he felt weaker and weaker. He managed to jump away from Baraggan, but the effect didn't seem to stop. Baraggan informed him that the aging effects would ware off eventually, but he wouldn't give him enough time to allow that to happen. While they were going at it, Joel Goldsmith was combating Hammerhead. Both of them were engaged in some high speed combat. They both appeared to be relatively evenly matched, as they weren't able to land a single hit on each other, and were able to effortlessly dodge each others attacks. Hammerhead mutated his large, musclebound arms into gigantic, double-sided hammers, and charged for Joel. Hammerhead swung his left hammer arm. Joel raised his staff, and the two collided. When they did the staff glowed a bright red color, and Joel was sent sliding on his feet a little ways back. Hammerhead didn't stop there however, as he used Sonido to get behind Joel and attempted a strike with both hammers at once.

Without even turning around Joel shouted "DANKU!" Once he did, a translucence barrier appeared between him and Hammerhead. Hammerhead's hammers weren't able to even so much as dent the shield. After that, Joel appeared behind Hammer head and hollered "RIKUJOKORO!" This caused six long, wide, and sharp beams of light to appear in the air and stab Hammerhead from all directions. Hammerhead was dumbfounded and afraid as Joel still appeared to be on the other side of the shield. However, moments later that Joel turned into water and splashed on the ground, and the real Joel backed up from him for a bit. He lifted his staff in the air and exclaimed "KUROHITSUGI!" After that, the skies were covered by dank, pitch black clouds, and purple electricity surrounded Hammerhead. The electricity molded together to form a rectangular coffin. The coffin stretched all the way up to the sky and completely enveloped Hammerhead. Unwilling to leave it at that, Joel followed up by shouting "RAIKOUYA!" This caused lighting to generate in the clouds which formed a gigantic yellow arrow. Obeying the downward motion of Joel's hand and arm the arrow plummeted into the coffin, striking Hammerhead. Once that was done, Joel did a sideways motion with his hand and arm, the arrow and the coffin disappeared into nothingness, and Hammerhead collapsed lifeless to the ground, covered in his own blood. Joel wiped the sweat off his forehead, releasing a large sigh. He looked around him, only to see a horrifying sight. Burikka Hakumei Akegata, who was doing battle with Baraggan Louisenbairn, and Kaibutsu Shihoin, Nemaiya Oetsu, and Onoki Higurashi, who were doing battle with legions of Hollows, were all on the ground, beaten and wallowing n their own blood, unable to return to their feet. Meanwhile everyone else has been defeated as well.

Tier Harribel, Angelique, and their army of Hollows were standing over Shikyo Fushiawase, Roku Kage, Shutara Senjumaru, and Higumo Morimoto, and Honoka, Alejandro, and their group of Hollows were standing over Shoyo Tabinin, Shigekuni Genryusai Yamamoto, Yachiru Unohana, Tenjiro Kirinji, and Zentaitoshitenkushimi, reveling in their victory. Yamamoto's flames, which were previously burning bright, hot, and high, had been completely extinguished. Honoka had probably beaten him as Alejandro was also kneeling close to the ground as if she had been defeated by Yamamoto. It wasn't long, however, before she completely healed herself, and rose to her feet. The same was true for Honoka, Tier Harribel, Angelique, Baraggan Louisenbairn, and Hammerhead. The mindless Hollow armies were much less in numbers now, only a few dozen in each area remained, whereas before they were seemingly endless.

"It's about time that I ended this. You Shinigami Order were quite the challenge, but now it is over." Honoka exclaimed.

Honoka proceeded to raise his Spiritual Power on a tremendous level. This was like nothing that Shoyo, or any of the others, had felt before. His Spiritual Power could be felt all over Hueco Mundo. Every Hollow in the entire realm, especially the Hollows that were involved in the battle, including the other Vasto-Lorde, were forced to silence. The Hollows laid on the ground, and the Vasto-Lorde knelt in respect. Even Tier Harribel, Angelique, Baraggan Louisenbairn, and Hammehead, who were nowhere near him, knelt to one knee facing his general direction. All fifteen of the Shinigami were forced down to the ground in both pain and terror, unable to do anything against him. Their vision blurred, their bones cracked, and tears began to rain from their eyes. The only one who was able tro see clearly was Shoyo. He was also able to move a tiny bit at a time, but it didn't matter much due to how far away from Honoka that he was. After awhile he raised both of his bony hands in the air. This caused three gigantic Cero's to form. Each Cero would have been large enough to completely eclipse the sun if Heuco Mundo had a sun. The Cero's were red, were mostly made of normal magic energy but also surged with scarlet electricity, and each one was eclipsing overhead of each of the three groups. As time went on, the Cero's just seemed to keep growing constantly with no end in sight. After a few minutes Honoka gave an evil, sinister grin, and then waved his arms downward. This caused the Cero's to move towards the ground, albeit slowly. Once that occurred all six of the Vasto-Lorde used Sonido to evade the blast zone that the Cero's were gong to strike. It took a little while, but eventually the Cero's reached the Shinigami. Fear completely eclipsed all of their hearts. Eventually bright lights entirely blinded their vision. And then there was nothing.

 _Flashback Arcs: 1,000 Years Ago_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Bleach: Evolution**_

 _ **Act 1: The Shinigami-Hollow War Act**_

 _ **Saga 1: The Shinigami-Hollow War Saga**_

 _ **Arc 1-The Shinigami-Hollow War Arc**_

 _ **Chapter 1-The Shinigami-Hollow War**_

Rain crashed down with vicious force, blinding all but the most skilled of combatants. The sky was covered in black clouds, blocking out even the moon and stars from showing light. Thunder boomed and lightning struck at varying locations. On one side of the battlefield a hoard of Shinigami rushed in to battle, each adorned in the standard long, black Shinigami cloak, and each wielding a normal sized katana. From the other side a legion of Hollows charged forward. Most of them were massive, although there were a few smaller ones thrown in, they were mostly black and gray in color, were covered in bones, and had long, sharp teeth in their gaping, growling, angry mouths. Some of the Hollows which had long tails pierced through the chests of several Shinigami each, whipping their tails behind them, tossing the bodies off, which were attached to them like shish kabobs. Breaking through from the crowd one Shinigami took out all of those Hollows with his sword and added a few others to his kill list before he was eliminated by being stabbed through the back with several long, sharp, jagged Hollow claws. Three more Shinigami attempted to kill him, leaping up high behind him, but he managed to sense them, turning around with a start, and blocking their Zanapkuto slashes with both of his hands, each one containing three long, sharp, jagged claws. He effortlessly sliced to pieces those three Shinigami. After that he began to form a small circle of red energy on all six of his claws. With time the circles grew larger, until they combined, making just two circles. With more time they combined into jus tone circle, the Hollow moving hands close enough together so that this could happen, and he fired a powerful Cero. The blast entirely incinerated several body parts of many Shinigami, from arms, to legs, to heads, to torsos, leaving the rest of them to bleed out on the ground, suffering for the last few moments of their lives.

The attack also created a small crater int he ground. Before he could go for round 2 however he was killed by a swift, lightning fast Zanpakuto. The guy who killed him was rather tall, with long, flowing, silver hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. The sword he was using was gripped tightly in his left hand and he had another one safely sheathed on the left side of his body. Noticing him an army of Hollows surrounded this guy. They each fired their own Ceros at him, which ranged in color from red, to blue, to green, to yellow, to orange, and ranged in size from extremely small to extremely large. However, he used Shunpo to avoid them with ease and in the blink of an eye killed every single one of them. He continued attacking and slaying Hollows for several minutes, running hurriedly across the battlefield as he did, until he saw something on the ground. A child. Soaked in rain and crying uncontrollably, although the noise was almost entirely blocked out by the booming sound of the rain and the thunder, he couldn't have been any older than six. Finding orphans was very common in these war torn days of Soul Society, and every time it saddened him to no end. Once he finished annihilating all of the Hollows in the immediate vicinity, she sheathed his sword, walked towards the child, and knelt down slowly, gently cupping his hands around his armpits. In the past he has had issues with the child fearing him and attempting to get away, but this one was most likely too afraid due to the rain and thunder. The child was very short, only went up to the Shinigami's knees, , and had blue eyes and short, icy blue, frizzy, unkempt hair. He was also soaking wet from both the rain and his own tears. The Shinigami stood up, pressed the child tight against his chest, and used Shunpo to escape the battlefield before more Hollows arrived. Before long he made it to a different area.

To enter this area he phased through a gigantic barrier. The barrier is normally invisible, but when he touched it, it was briefly made visible until he was done. The barrier not only kept Hollows out, but it also prevented the rain from falling. The barrier contained countless large brown shacks which housed the numerous Shinigami combatants. He ran over to one that was nearby, and several of his Shinigami allies noticed him. He entered one of the cabins, and before him he saw tones of small beds laid out with wounded soldiers laying on them, being treated by doctors and nurses. All four corners of the cabin had a relatively bright candle which provided light for everyone inside. He laid the orphan down on one of the beds that was free, sprawling him out. He was joined by a couple of his comrades, who were able to immediately judge the situation. The first was a slender and tall man, with black, messy, unkempt, shoulder-length hair that partially hung in front of his face, half opened black eyes, pale skin. He has a worn-out appearance, almost as if he just rolled out of bed. He sports a ragged black outfit that consists of a long-sleeved shirt and matching pants that tuck into his boots. He also wears a utility belt and his signature scarf at all times. The second one was a curvaceous woman with long, thick, black hair, and blue eyes. She wears a black breast-less leotard over a white bodysuit, which emphasizes her breasts, body, and legs, along with a translucent black thigh-high stockings and black knee-boots. She has a small mask outlining her eyes, a handcuff on each wrist, and a utility belt around her hips. She also sports a red domino mask. The woman began tending to the child's wounds. The woman, Shirley Horimoto, brought over a bucket full of water and a few dry rags to aid herself, and a typical hand-held heart monitor dangled around her neck. She took the heart monitor and pressed it against the child's chest.

Her hand moved up, down, and to the side several times, the top end of the heart monitor stuck in each of her ears so she could listen to the child's heartbeat. The guy, Michael Daiichi, wet one of the dry rags in the bucket, ringed it out thoroughly, folded it up appropriately, and laid it gently over his forehead. By now the child was completely silent. He screamed and bellowed so loudly before that he seemed to have lost his voice. He shook and twitched every once in awhile, signifying that he was still in pain, but couldn't let out a single peep from his mouth. The guy who brought him in, Shoyo Tabinin, reached into his long, thin, gray robes and pulled out a syringe. He lightly grabbed the child's right arm with his thumb and index fingers, prepared the syringe by pulling the tip of the end back, stuck the needle in his arm, and pressed down, injecting something into his body. Moments after that the child stopped moving entirely, but Shirley could still hear his heart beating so she knew that he was still alive. Shoyo finally relaxed, sitting cross legged on the floor, wiping sweat and rain water off of his forehead and his face.

"This is the fifth one this week." Daiichi lamented, standing up to his feet. His voice sounded low and timid, yet oddly still confident.

"He looks familiar." Shirley commented with a peculiar expression on his face.

"He should." Shoyo responded. "This is Lord Goldsmith's son."

Both Daiichi and Shirley shot him a piercing glare, which he payed no mind to. "Lord Goldsmith? He had another child?" Shirley exclaimed. Her voice was slightly deep, for a woman, and mature.

"He did." Shoyo explained. "But after Lord Goldsmith and his wife were killed on the battlefield, I thought the kid went with them. I was wrong."

"You plan on training this one just like Lord Fushiawase's last offspring?" Daiichi inquired, crossing his arms, hoping for a quick resolution.

"Of course." Shoyo responded. "When he gets better, that is. Daiichi, register him as one of my students. Shirley, inform the others about his arrival. It's likely that he'll be out for a few days, but the moment he wakes up we'll begin."

"Got it." Daiichi and Shirley replied in unison. They both walked away.

Shoyo was about to leave as well, but he was shocked when the child woke up suddenly. His eyes shifted and twitched slightly, he bit his bottom lip with his top row of teeth, and began crying again, although only a few tears this time rolled down his cheeks, and he wasn't screeching like he was before. After a brief moment the child stopped moving again and began breathing normally. His painful frown turned to a straight face, and his lungs were steadily rising and lowering. Daiichi was already gone, but Shirley noticed and quickly spun around and returned to them. Shirley reached walked over to a nearby wall, grabbed a small blanket that was folded up on the top of a wooden stand, returned to the child, unfolded the blanket, and covered him up, making sure to carefully and neatly tuck parts of it in underneath of him. She also retrieved a pillow and placed it under his head. His tears finally stopped, and she took a dry towel and gently wiped his face dry. He was almost unrecognizable from how he looked before. He looked so peaceful and serene, resting with ease. Satisfied and with a smile on her face Shirley walked away again. Later that night the cabin was almost entirely empty except for the child, who was still sleeping, and Shoyo, who was sitting cross legged by a nearby wall, reading a dusty, ragged book and occasionally sipping a cup of tea. His sword, which was previously sheathed by his left side waist, was laying on the ground right next to him. As he was taking a sip of tea he heard a light groan over to the side of him. His reading was lit with a small candle which was sitting on a small brown table. He set his cup down and hustled over to the child, who was waking up finally. His eyes popped open with a start, and he tried to lean up but winced in pain; as a result, Shoyo lightly grabbed hold of him with both of his hands, one hand on the back of his head and the other on his chest, forcing him to lay back down.

The child remained silent for a few more moments and then finally spoke. His voice was fearful, but he tried his best to sound brave and strong. "W-Who are you? Where am I? What's going on?" With each question his speech got faster and more desperate.

Shoyo held his left hand in front of his face defensively and gave off a warm smile. "Don't worry. I found you on the battlefield and brought you to the Shinigami Order's eastern quarters to be healed."

"Hollows?" The child exclaimed. "Oh, yeah, because of the war."

"Are you aware of what is going on?" Shoyo inquired. "Most children of your age aren't entirely conscious of the battles and the suffering taking place out there."

"Idiot, I'm already 10 years old." The child declared in offense. He threw his covers off in determination.

"Really?" Shoyo replied in amusement. "Still, I would like if you showed appreciation for saving your life."

The child paused for a moment, and then gazed down towards the floor and quickly mumbled under his breath, "Thank you."

"That's better." Shoyo said. "Now, what's your name?"

"Joel Goldsmith." He responded without hesitation. He sat up further and crossed his legs in the same way as Shoyo. "My father was the founder of the Shinigami Order."

"Founder? But I was the founder of the Shinigami Order." Shoyo replied with a chuckle. His smile never left his face even for a moment.

"Well, there are several founders…" Joel stopped speaking out of nowhere and gave a piercing glare to Shoyo. "Wait, you wouldn't happen to be….Shoyo Tabinin!?"

"At your service." Shoyo answered him, humorously bowing his head and waving his arm and hand across his chest.

All of a sudden Joel bolted towards Shoyo and grabbed him by the scruffs of his arms sleeves, one hand on each sleeve. His eyes were wide, giving off a surprising gleam of hope, and his mouth hung open. Shoyo was so shocked that he fell backward, being knocked out of his cross legged sitting form, but managing to not fall all the way onto his back. Shoyo gave off an extremely puzzled and confused facial expression.

"Are you really Shoyo?" Joel exclaimed with excitement. "As in THE Shoyo? The Lord Commander of the Shinigami Order? One of the founding Kami?"

"Guilty." Shoyo responded with a chuckle. He gently leaned Joel away from him so he could sit up straight. "What can I do for you?"

"My father and my mother." Joel said with a solemn tone of voice, looking back down at the ground again. "They are dead." Shoyo was aware of this, but he said nothing in response and just continued to listen. "My father, another one of the founding Kami, always spoke very highly of you. He said that if anything should happen to both him and my mother, I should find you.

"It looks like that I'm the one who found you." Shoyo joked. He stood up to his feet and stuck both of his hands in the opposite sleeve.

"Yes, I know." Joel lamented. He briefly bit his bottom lip with his top row of teeth before continuing. "I would have likely made it on my own, but it started pouring and I lost my way. And before I knew it I was being attacked by Hollows. I would have died if you didn't show up."

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that you want me to train you." Shoyo said. Joel finally stood up to his own feet. He also rubbed his face and eyes, which were drenched in tears of joy.

"Yes, yes please!" Joel exclaimed, grabbing the front scruff of Shoyo's hakama. "I want to fight int he war, and I've been told that you train young souls for the purpose of battle."

"Indeed I do." Shoyo confirmed. "However, it won't be easy. My training is known to be the most brutal of all the commanders. Can you handle it?"

"Yes, I will do whatever it takes to become stronger!" Joel assured him, nodding his head with great eagerness.

"Sounds good to me." Shoyo agreed. "What skill do you specialize in?"

"Kido." Joel answered. As they spoke the two of them walked over to the door of the cabin, opened it up, walked out, and shut it behind them. "My father was never able to train me that often, but when he did we discovered that I have a special affinity for Kido."

"By the way, how old are you?" Shoyo inquired.

"Um, 10." Joel responded with a puzzled expression on his face. "Why?"

Shoyo took the lead and simply fingered for Joel to follow him. The two walked at a normal pace through the grassy field. It was mostly pitch blank with the lone exception of a few lanterns placed here and there. There was nobody else in sight, they were the only two around. The field possessed tones of other cabins. Joel shifted his head back and fourth, amazed and excited that he finally reached his destination and what he was seeing; when he was brought in he was unconscious, so this is his first time laying eyes on the western headquarters for the Shinigami Order. A light breeze was passing by them, causing Shoyo's hair to blow slightly. Up in the sky a few thin clouds were visible. The two eventually came to a forest on the far end of the grassy plains, but kept walking. Shoyo grabbed hold of Joel and pulled him close. He explained that it's very common for people to get lost in this forest even when they're walking together, however Shoyo himself knows the way through perfectly, so Joel definitely needs to make sure to stay close, no matter what. Joel looked up and saw that the trees stretched much further than his eyes could perceive. Once they got far enough in it got pitch black without any light from the moon or the lanterns that were outside of the forest being able to reach them. Joel wrapped his arms around Shoyo's waist and shut his eyes. His trust in Shoyo was rewarded as they didn't run into any trees or get lost at all, and they eventually reached their destination. As they continued walking the trees became less and less until they arrived at a small area in the center of the forest. The area was surrounded by the trees, and the grass and weeds were cut much shorter. Even though this place was void of trees, the leaves and branches from the surrounding trees will blocked out the sky, so the only way to get light was for there to be five torches to be lit.

Joel saw several children that were roughly the same height and most likely the same age as him, as well as some more adults that towered above him similar to Shoyo. They were undergoing some sort of training, but they stopped and turned their heads when Joel arrived. They all glared at him, but had varying facial expressions. One of the children caught Joel's eyes specifically. He was a young boy with long, spiky, black, green tipped hair and large, hazel brown eyes. He was adorned in a green jacket with reddish edges and he had long, green, laced boots on his feet. His skin was pale white and he had a frown on his face. The adult that was standing next to him was Shirley Horimoto, who had a big smile on her face. Her long, flowing, silky black hair was tight back into a thick ponytail, which was dangling over left shoulder. All of the other kids and adults noticed Joel, but didn't seem to be paying him any mind. The kids kept doing training moves, some with swords, others with their fists and feet, and others just simply sitting on the ground in deep meditation, with the adults nearby to help if it was needed. The kid that was looking at Joel was practicing his hand to hand combat with Shirley, but stopped when Joel got close enough. Joel kept by Shoyo's side, his eyes glazed over with fear, but kept a glare on this new person. Joel's heart skipped a beat when the new kid's unwelcoming frown was instantly replaced with a warm, welcoming, gentle smile. He stood up straight, pointed his feet forward, placing them just a few centimeters apart from each other, and put both of his hands behind his back, gripping them both together. Despite this pleasant demeanour Joel remained hesitant, so Shoyo gently forced Joel's hands and fingers off of his Hakama and walked a short distance away. Joel looked back towards Shoyo for a moment, and then looked at the kid again.

Since Joel wouldn't speak, the new kid took it upon himself. "My name's Shikyo Fushiawase. What's yours?" Shikyo held out his hand to greet Joel. His voice was high pitched, happy, and inviting.

Joel still looked scared, but forced himself to respond. "M-My name is Joel Goldsmith." His voice was quivering and stuttering. He returned Shikyo's greeting with his own hand, slowly.

Shikyo quickly grabbed hold of Joel's hand, tightly, and shook it up and down, which startled Joel. Realizing that Shikyo was shaking for too long and seriously starting to frighten Joel Shirley bent down to one knee, her other foot behind her and on its toes, and split their hands apart, a pleased smile plastered on her face. When she did Joel's hand hurriedly returned to him. He grabbed and caressed it with his other hand.

Shikyo looked up towards the sky slightly and placed his right finger underneath of his chin, adorning a puzzled facial expression. "Goldsmith, Goldsmith." He repeated thoughtfully. "You won't by chance be related to the late Lord Goldsmith, would you?"

"Y-yes. He was my father." Joel replied. His response was quicker this time, and the fear was clearly subsiding, but it wasn't gone entirely.

"Wow, so cool!" Shikyo exclaimed. He leaped towards Joel and roughly grabbed hold of both of his shoulders, scaring him again. "My father was is good friend, Lord Fushiawase! It's not often that I meet other kids my age with such fantastic pedigrees!"

"P-P-P-Pedigrees?" Joel could hardly understand what Shikyo was saying. The little bit of fear that left him had now returned, and was amplified by many times. He held a crooked expression on his face.

Shoyo was about to walk back over, but Shirley intervened, pulling Shikyo off of him. Her smile had now turned to a frown. "Easy! Don't be so rough, you're scaring the poor kid!"

"Huh?" Shikyo responded, looking up to her with a puzzled expression. "I am?" He then looked back at Joel. "Sorry man, I didn't realize you were so timid."

"You need to become more aware of your surroundings and other people's feelings." Shirley scolded him, standing up straight again and crossing her arms.

Shoyo walked back over to him and placed his hand on Joel's shoulder. "Let's keep going. The Kido practitioners are a little ways further yet."

"Hey Joel." Shikyo said, trying to keep his voice lower this time, although his excitability did bleed through. Joel turned his head in response. "Let's be friends."

"Um, s-sure." Joel replied, a little bit more comfortable with Shikyo's presence now.

"See you back at the main camp!" Shikyo hollered after Joel was a little ways away from him. He placed a huge smile on his face, raised his arm high in the air, and waved his hand wildly.

Joel looked back at him for one more brief moment and snuck a small grin on his face before turning away again. It wasn't long after that Joel and Shoyo disappeared into the trees, and Shikyo returned to his training with Shirley Horimoto. Joel and Shoyo kept walking in silence for several more minutes until came to another open area. This one appeared to be slightly larger than the last. Only three surrounded by trees. The other side, which was to the far left, was a long, baron walkway which had a bunch of large targets at the very end. A bunch of children were lined up firing Kido spells of varying sizes, speeds, and colors at the targets. The colors ranged from, red, to yellow, to green, to blue, to orange, to black, among others. On the opposite side of this circular area were more children practicing Kido, except their spells didn't focus on attacking directly, they focused on stuff like shields, barriers, flight, armor, and restraining, among many other things. Each student, just like at their previous stop, was being trained and aided by an adult. Michael Daiichi noticed Joel and Shoyo coming closer, so he briefly stopped working with his female student and approached them. Daiichi was dripping with sweat so he took the back of his left hand and wiped his forehead, sending sweat flying through the air.

"Glad to see you're up and about." Daiichi said. His arms were crossed, his hands dangling lifelessly off to the sides. "I take it you want to specialize in Kido?"

"Excuse me, but I already specialize in Kido!" Joel exclaimed defensively, tightly crossing his arms.

The little girl who Daiichi was working with ran up to him and roughly tugged on his hakama. "Dai, what are you doing? Let's continue!" She demanded in a high pitched, cutesy tone of voice.

Daiichi turned around and bent down to one knee, using his right hand to pat her on the top of her head. "Be patient, Ainu, I have other business right now. Say high to Joel Goldsmith." Daiichi turned back to Joel and waved his hand in an introducing motion.

"Goldsmith?" The girl exclaimed, shocked. "Are you the son of Lord Goldsmith?"

"Um, yes." Joel responded. He stood up straight trying to not allow his timid fear to bleed through. "I guess my father is famous around here as well, huh?"

"He's famous around the whole Soul Society!" She shouted excitedly. "Let's be friends!"

She gripped both of Joel's hands lightly, enclosing them together. Even though she's acting similarly to Shikyo, somehow Joel didn't feel any fear, but instead an overwhelming warmth, emanating from this girl. Her kind and welcoming smile pierced through Joel's heart like a hot sword through butter and left him completely speechless and dumbfounded. Ainu is a girl about the same height as Joel, with long, flowing, deep violet hair, purple eyes, and is wearing a dark blue kimono and hakama with the straps in the center to keep them together being a much lighter shade of blue, in fact almost white.

"Yeah, sure." Joel responded, blushing slightly.

Shoyo cut in, leading Joel over to the side with the targets. "Let's see how skilled you are now, Joel. Time is being wasted."

Daiichi continued for him. Shoyo, Daiichi, and Ainu were standing behind Joel. "Show us the Kido spell that you're most skilled at."

Joel didn't say anything, and just simply shook his head in response, turning to the target. He raised his left hand up in the air, gripping his left wrist with his right hand, spreading his legs a little bit and bending his knees. On both sides of him other children continued training. They were clearly entirely invested in and focused on their training, none of them payed any attention to him. While Joel spent time charging up his spell, the others were doing the same, periodically firing them. Most of them were Shakkaho, a large sphere of red energy, but another common one was lightning being shot out of their hands or fingers. It didn't take long for Joel to start building up red energy, skillfully forming it into a sphere. He periodically took deep breaths, inhaling through his nose, exhaling through his mouth. He closed his eyes briefly so he could better concentrate without having to look at his contemporaries or the scenery. When he opened them his Shakkaho was finally complete. He kept his e yes focused ahead of himself, so he couldn't see that all of the other children were looking at him now. This was because his Shakkaho was much larger than any of the spells that they were capable of creating. It was more than five times larger than his head, and was surging with some sort of red electricity, which only the most advanced Shakkahos were capable of. Behind him Ainu was just as stunned as all of the other kids. Daiichi couldn't believe his eyes either, giving Joel a curious gaze, but Shoyo just smiled and continued to observe. Daiichi noticed this, and got the feeling that Shoyo wasn't surprised at all. If that's truly the case, then he was the only one. Joel didn't hesitate. Once his spell had reached its apex, he shouted "Hado #31: Shakkaho!" When he did it left his hand and came flying towards the target at great speed. The force caused the grass and nearby trees, even though none of them were right net to him, to rustle wildly.

The hair of all of the nearby students and teachers also did the same, and some of the students even had to hold their arms up defensively to block their faces from the power of the wind, and others were knocked over completely. After only a few brief seconds his Shakkaho reached the target and completely destroyed it. Not only that, but ten targets on the left and ten targets on the right were also completely destroyed, his intended target was in the perfect center of them all. In addition to that, six more targets on his left and on his right were partially destroyed, 10 more on his left and on his right were knocked over, and the rest of the targets, which included five on his left and five on his right, still swayed back and forth because of the wind that was generated from the force of the assault. Once he was done Joel was still breathing heavily, and he was sweating profusely. He used the back of both of his hands to continuously wipe sweat off of his forehead and cheeks. He suddenly fell back into his butt in exhaustion, and he looked up to the sky in success. Before long he turned around, still on the ground, but the sight was not what he expected. He saw absolutely every student and teacher on this training ground, which there were dozens of, sharing at him in abject, awkward silence. Joel was unsure how to respond to this. He looked back and forth constantly, and soon, when his situation finally sunk in, his face turned beat red, an unbelievably terrified and embarrassed expression caressing his face. Tears began to well up in his eyes, but Ainu ran up to him and grabbed his shoulders. She was more forceful than before, but her grip was still gentle and warm, which was very odd. Shoyo walked up behind Joel and patted the top of his head with his left hand. Ainu's gentle grip, and Shoyo's warm, pleased smile did manage to slightly calm and relax Joel.

The tears in his eyes stopped running, and he wiped the existing ones away, and the tone of his skin turned back to normal again, and he climbed back up to his feet. Joel still had an awkward expression on his face due to everyone's stares. Shoyo saw this and shot a menacing glare at everyone, his eyes squinting slightly and his lips held perfectly straight. This immediately struck fear into them, and every one of them returned to their own training, no longer paying any attention to Joel. Afterwards Shoyo turned his gaze back to Joel. Once everyone else began training the noise rose to a level which made it very difficult for them to hear each other, so Shoyo started walking away and used his left index finger to signal Joel to follow. Even though he didn't tell her to, Ainu followed closely behind, and Michael Daiichi joined them. Once they reached the previous training location again Shikyo Fushiawase and Shirley Horimoto joined their journey. Once they got back to where they came from they walked up to and entered the cabin where Joel was resting before. Shoyo sat down at a table, picked up a pen and began writing on some paper.

"Alright Joel." Shoyo said after a moment. "You seem to be getting along with Ainu, so you two can be training partners. She's been needing one anyways, so the situations line up perfectly."

"Aw, but I wanted to train with him!" Shikyo protested, presenting a pouty facial expression.

"You can train with him all you like, but they both utilize Kido, so for the official training they should be placed together." Shoyo explained matter-of-fact, paying no mind to Shikyo's pout. "I will most likely be taking part in your training quite often Joel, but for the time being I've got things to do so you Ainu will just have to train by yourselves for awhile."

"Common, Joel!" Ainu exclaimed, tugging on his right arm. "Let's go, I want to show you how skilled I am, hurry!"

Joel struggled for a moment, but quickly relented and followed her. After they exited the cabin he managed to wiggle his arm free from Ainu's grip, and the two of them ran together, Shikyo following closely behind. Shoyo, Daiichi, and Shirley simply watched them go with pleased grins plastered on their faces. All of a sudden Shoyo's grin shifted to a frown, and Shirley noticed this and rested her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm worried about that kid." Shoyo said in a solemn tone of voice.

"How come?" Shirley questioned, a concerned look creeping onto her face. "He's pretty strong, a prodigy even. We need more fighters like that."

"True enough." Shoyo agreed. "But still, he's timid as hell, which isn't good when it comes to the teamwork that will be required to fight in this war. Not to mention, there's the issue of his father."

"Well, I'm sure that he'll grow out of his timid nature as time passes." Daiichi said with confidence. "I think Ainu will also play a major role in helping him come out of his shell. But regarding his father, I don't think it's right to blame the son for the sins of his father."

"I'm not, don't get me wrong." Shoyo defended himself. He set his pen down on the table in front of him and closed his eyes briefly. "I just think that we should watch him, for a while at least. I want to make absolute certain that he won't take after Lord Goldsmith." Shoyo opened up his eyes back up.

"I understand your reasoning, and I think we can do that just fine." Shirley responded. "Still, don't go too far with judging Joel because of his father. You seem to be nice with him right now, and we want to keep it that way. If he finds out that you're suspicious of him because of what his father did, that could really screw him up. He is still just a child, after all."

"True, thanks for your counsel." Shoyo said, his smile returning to his face. "Even if he is like his father, it's our job as his elders to make sure that he travels in the right direction in his life."

"Exactly." Daiichi exclaimed, lightly punching Shoyo's right shoulder with his left fist. "So stop worrying big guy, he'll be fine. We need to have faith in our students if they are to grow."

Meanwhile, Joel, Ainu, and Shikyo ran past several more log cabins until the cabins stopped coming. After awhile they went so far that all of the cabins were entirely out of view. When they looked behind them now all they could see was a seemingly endless grassy field, the grass being slightly blown by a light breeze. After awhile they came to another group of trees. From the outset this forest looked just like the previous, but when they entered it was only a couple of seconds before they reached the center, another open area. The left side had a couple of benches placed by the trees, and the rest of the area was completely baron except for the grass.

"What are we doing?" Joel inquired. He felt kind of scared and unsure inside, but Ainu's upbeat and cheery attitude gave him no choice but to put a grin on his own face as well.

"To train of course!" She responded. She turned to him with a gigantic smile across her whole face and leaned forward with both of her hands behind her back clasped together. "There's too many people over in that other location, I wanted to get some peace and quiet."

"Sure I guess, but what did you have in mind?" Joel questioned.

"First I want you to put up your best Kido barrier, and I want Shikyo to punch it has hard as he can!" Ainu explained with great enthusiasm.

Shikyo continued for her, responding to a confused look that Joel gave. "Not many people are able to defend against my punches." He slid down his sleeve and flexed his arm, revealing that he was hiding some quite bulky muscles underneath, a cocky smirk crossing his face.

"That's cool, but I hope you don't mind your streak being broken today." Joel was unknowingly starting to be sucked into their frenzy, his eyes glistening with enjoyment.

Ainu walked and sat on one of the benches. Joel stood in front of her a few feet away, and Shikyo stood on the opposite end. Shikyo bent his knees, his left foot in the front and his right foot in the back, and raised and clenched both of his fists. There was a few moments of absolute silence and then Joel commenced. He clasps his hands together and quickly generates a gust of wind around all three of them. He then held both of his palms out in himself and exclaimed "Bakudo #81: Danku!" The moment that he did a translucent shield was formed. It was rectangular in shape, reached several stories above Joel. The creation of the wall initiated a gust of wind that smacked into Ainu with great force blowing her hair wildly and knocking her back slightly. Afterwards Shikyo chuckled and then charged forward. Once he got halfway to Joel he picked his feet off the ground. Once he was just a moment from striking he leaned back and then propelled his shoulder and fist forward. Once his fist connected with Danku a shock wave was unleashed which partially broke the ground below him away. Joel was also forced to slide back, his feet grinding into the ground. The trees on all side of them were shaking wildly, but not to the point where any of them were completely knocked over. Both of the benches flew deep into the forest; Ainu was knocked off of the bench that she was sitting on, but managed stand in front of a tree to prevent herself from getting sent far away. Shikyo gritted his teeth and increased the output force, but still he was unable to so much as scratch Danku. The barrier remained intact and stood tall without any hint of it going down. Joel's grin was suddenly shifted to a concerned frown as Danku began to fidget slightly. He bent down to one knee and began to breath heavily. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth tightly, but it was no use. His will soon gave out and Danku shattered.

This allows Shikyo to continue proceed forward. Joel obtained a look of fear and despair on his face as Shikyo's fist was heading right for him, but before it connected Shikyo stopped. It was just in time as his fist was only inches away from Joel's face. Awkward silence ensued for a couple of minutes. Shikyo had his knees bent down really far, his arm stretched out straight, his clenched fist just barely grazing Joel's nose and the knuckles facing upward, the front of his body facing the side, and his face directed forward. Joel attempted to speak several times, but was unable to form the proper words, all he could let out were a bunch of inaudible mumbles. He fell backward and plopped on his butt. Shikyo stood up straight and was breathing just as heavily as Joel. He then looked Joel in the eyes and put a big'ol grin on his face. Just as he did his fist began to bleed a little bit, drops dripping on the grass. He didn't seem to notice it at first, but Joel looked at his fist intensely, which caused Joel to raise it up in front of his face. Ainu also noticed it at this point as well, and she ran up to him and grabbed his arm. She looked worried, but Shikyo himself didn't, he just continued to grin and open and close his fist repeatedly; this act caused even more blood to be released from his wound and slide and drip down to the ground. Joel scrambled to his feet, and both him and Ainu were starting to freak out, until Shoyo appeared from deep inside of the forest, the same part that Ainu, Shikyo, and Joel entered from. Unlike Joel and Ainu, Shoyo didn't look worried at all. He reached into his hakama, pulled out a wet rag, bent down to one knee next to Shikyo, took hold of his hand, forced all of his fingers out straight, and began wiping all of the blood off of it. This lasted for several seconds, and when he was done it was almost entirely soaked in blood, and he threw it to the grass. After that he pulled out a bunch of bandages from his hakama, gabbed hold of Shikyo's hand again, and began to wrap it up. He put on three layers of bandages, pulling all three layers extremely tight. After each layer he would give Shikyo some time to flex his fingers and hand to make sure that he could still move them around relatively well.

"What are you doing here? How did you know that Shikyo would get injured?" Joel inquired.

"This is common." Shoyo responded in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. "Little Shikyo here is never cautious when he trains, which results in dozens of unnecessary injuries."

"It's not that bad. I heal pretty quick." Shikyo replied with confidence.

"Don't get too arrogant now." Shoyo demanded, looking at him deep in his eyes with a serious expression on his face.

"What I want to know is how you knew about this location!" Ainu exclaimed with a frustrated expression on his face. "This is supposed to be my secret spot!"

"There isn't a single location in all of Soul Society that I don't know of." Shoyo demanded, rising back up to his feet. "Mind telling me what you were doing?"

Shikyo explained the situation to Joel, and his frown immediately turned to a pleased smile. "I'm glad to hear that. You three are getting along already."

"Any idea where I failed, Master?" Joel questioned in a concerned tone of voice.

"I can't say for absolute certain because I just got here." Shoyo began to explain, rubbing his chin with his left index finger and thumb in a thoughtful way. "But I I were to guess I'd say that while your barriers are dense and well-formed, you seem to have a lack of control. I also noticed this when you used Shakkaho earlier. The blast was pretty powerful, but you were knocked over immediately afterwards. Anyways, let's get back. The three of you need to sleep. Tomorrow Joel will be introduced to his class."

"Master Shoyo." Joel said suddenly, loudly, catching Shoyo's attention. "Would it be fine if I work alone for awhile? I feel that if I lack control in my abilities, there's a chance that I'll hurt some of my classmates, and I don't want to do that."

"I suppose that's fine." Shoyo responded, crossing his arms. "But let's make clear that you have to enter class. Even if you want most of your training to be solo for awhile, you should still get to know your peers. That sound fair?"

"Yeah, that's fine." Joel said in a low tone of voice. He held his head low with a sad expression on his face.

Ainu slapped the left side of his back with her right hand and had a warm smile on her face. "Don't worry. Most everyone in our class is nice, I'm sure you'll feel right at home."

Shikyo slapped the right side of his back with his left hand and also gave him a warm smile. "She's right. And even if they weren't we're already your friends, aren't we?"

"Yes, thank you. I appreciate it." Joel responded with a smile.

After that, Joel, Shikyo, Ainu, and Shoyo left the area, disappearing deep into the forest. The next day it was bright outside, the sun beaming overhead in the sky, and very few clouds could be seen. There were quite a few people outside in the forest, in the few open areas within the forest, and around the log cabins either chatting, resting on the ground, or training either alone or with the aid of others. Joel was was being escorted to a specific log cabin by Shoyo, with Shikyo and Ainu following closely behind. This log cabin was one of the largest in terms of height and width, and was one of the few to have a chimney on top. Shoyo opened the door and the four walked inside. When they did they saw seventeen students sitting in chairs around in the classroom, with three chairs that have nobody sitting in them. At the front of the class is a massive chalk board and a long, brown, rectangular desk, and in between both of them was Shirley Horimoto. She looked just the same as before except her hair was tied back into a long, thick ponytail. Shirley noticed them and waved, and Shoyo directed Joel to his seat. Ainu and Shikyo hurried to their seats right away, probably because they have been in this class before. While Joel headed to his seat, which was in the far left of the very front, as far away from the door as possible, everyone in the class stared at him. This didn't help his naturally timid nature, he lowered his head and tried his hardest to avert his eyes from everyone as to not be affected by their piercing glares, but it didn't help much. He provided a sunken in, sad expression on his face. He eventually reached his chair and he sat down. He folded his arms on his table and laid his head down, his face directed away from the wall. Shoyo walked up to the front of the classroom and began chatting with Shirley, their conversation only being read as a bunch of inaudible mumbles to the rest of the class.

"Okay class." Shirley said finally, her voice high and commanding, while still seeming friendly. "We have a new student today. Joel, please stand up and introduce yourself."

Joel was very hesitant, but Shirley's warm, inviting smile caused him to stand up, very slowly. His face turned beat red, and his stutter was init8ially uncontorllable, but he eventually managed to form actual words. "M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-My n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-name i-i-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-is J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-J-Joel G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-Goldsmith. N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-Nice t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-to m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-meet y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-you."

A few students that were in the back of the class chuckled at a low volume due to his awkwardness, while some of them raised their eyebrows in interest after hearing his last name, and the rest of them remained silent, holding straight, unamused expressions on their faces, and Ainu, Shikyo, Shirley, and Shoyo looked a little bit concerned. Joel remained motionless for a few minutes, but then quickly dropped back down to his seat, burying his face in his arms, which were folded up on his desk.

"He is very skilled, but also shy and reserved. I want you all to make him feel welcome." Shoyo exclaimed.

Joel lifted up his head and looked around the room. There were thirty chairs and desks in the classroom. The left side of the classroom, the middle of the classroom, and the right side of the classroom had 10 rows of chairs and desks, each row containing two desks and chairs sitting side by side each other. A few students caught his attention specifically. One was a man who appeared to be the eldest of all of the students. He was twice the height of Joel himself, with sunken in, flame-colored eyes. He was almost entirely bald except for a few patches of black hair around the rim, and was adorned in a thick, black hakama. He was staring at Joel, but soon closed his eyes and shifted his gaze forward. He saw Ainu sitting behind him, her hair tied up in a ponytail this time, and Shikyo was sitting right next to her. Sitting right at Joel's side was a tall woman with long, flowing, thick, black hair, a black hakama, and black eyes which scared Joel to even look inside of. She had a blank, emotionless expression on her face which was completely impossible to read. Sitting by the far wall, the same wall that the door to the building was attached to, perfectly adjacent to Joel, was woman the same height as him, with long, flowing, blond hair, with part of it tied up in a ponytail, and other parts dangling on the side of her face and between her eyes. She had blue eyes and was adorned in the standard black Shinigami hakama. Sitting in one of the two seats on the opposite side of the room in the very back was a man who was slightly taller than Joel with long, flowing, black hair, black eyes, the standard black Shinigami hakama, and a rosary around his neck. He had one elbow on his desk and his chin was resting in it, his eyes gazing out the window, looking incredibly bored. Sitting right next to the blond haired girl was another woman the same height as her, with long, flowing, black hair, black eyes, and adorned the standard Shinigami hakama.

Sitting in the middle of the classroom, in one of the front row seats, was a man slightly shorter than Joel. He he had long black hair that was tied in a ponytail, and two short strands extending from his chin. He was adorned in the standard Shinigami hakama and was buried deep in a text book, with a notebook and a pen laying on his desk to his right. While Joel was looking around the classroom Shirley was writing on the chalkboard and Shoyo was shuffling through papers that were on her desk. Before long the door to the classroom opened up, and Michael Daiichi walked in, shutting the door behind him. He walked up to the front of the classroom and chatted with Shoyo and Shirley; once again, their voices could only be heard as mumbles.

"Alright class, today we're going to be undergoing some head on battle training." Shirley explained finally, looking forward. She then looked toward Joel briefly. "I'm sorry Joel, I know you just joined the class, but your appearance was unexpected." She looked back forward again.

"T-That's f-fine." Joel responded in a low, shy tone of voice.

"Everyone will be split up with a different trainer based on your specific aptitudes." Shirley said, holding out her left index finger to point at students. "Joel and Ainu will practice Kido with me."

The two of them stood up and walked over to her; Shirley moved over to the front left corner of the classroom.

"Burikka and Zen will practice Zanjutsu with Michael." She continued.

The guy sitting in n one of the two seats on the opposite side of the room in the very back was a man who was slightly taller than Joel with long, flowing, black hair, black eyes, the standard black Shinigami hakama, and a rosary around his neck, Burikka, and the guy sitting in the middle of the classroom, in one of the front row seats, and was slightly shorter than Joel, with long black hair that was tied in a ponytail, and two short strands extending from his chin, and adorned in the standard Shinigami hakama, Zen, both stood up and walked over to Michael, Michael moving to the front right corner of the classroom.

"Shikyo, Higamoppi, and Higumai, you three will train in Hakuda with Shoyo." Shirley continued.

Shikyo, the blond hair girl, who was HIgamoppi, and the black hair girl, who was Higumi, stood up and walked over to Shoyo, who moved over to the back left side corner.

"That's it for our specialized students. Everyone else can head straight to the training arena and practice among themselves. We'll be sure to send some instructors to supervise your progress and provide assistance and advise should you require it." Shirley finished, setting the chalk down on the gray steel holder at the base of the chalkboard.

When Shirley was done speaking she clapped her hands three times in a row, which signaled all of the other students to rise up from their seats and head for the front door. Daiichi opened the door and his group was the first to go through. After that Shoyo and his group went through, and then Shirley and her group, and after that the final thirteen students, all of which ranging in height, build, hair color, and hair length went through the door, the last one slamming it behind him.


End file.
